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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1491124
This article is part of the Research Topic Microbial-Mediated Induced Resistance: Interactive Effects for Improving Crop Health View all 12 articles

Possible biocontrol of bacterial blight of pomegranate using native endophytic Bacillus

Provisionally accepted
Dr. Manjunatha N Dr. Manjunatha N *Somnath S Pokhare Somnath S Pokhare Ruchi Agarrwal Ruchi Agarrwal Nripendra Vikram Singh Nripendra Vikram Singh Jyotsana Sharma Jyotsana Sharma Mallikarjun M Harsur Mallikarjun M Harsur Rajiv A Marathe Rajiv A Marathe
  • National Research Center on Pomegranate (ICAR), Solapur, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Bacterial blight in pomegranate, caused by Xanthomonas citri pv. punicae (Xcp), is one of the most devastating diseases causing substantial economic losses in pomegranate. Methods for blight management in pomegranate production are scarce and not well established. To date, the major control strategy is targeting the pathogen with antibiotics and copper-based compounds. However, excessive use of antibiotics has resulted in development of antibiotic resistance in the field population of Xcp. Hence, as a means of eco-friendly and sustainable management of bacterial blight, use of native endophytes was investigated under field conditions in the current study. Endophytic bacteria were isolated from micro-propagated nodal explants of pomegranate and were identified as Bacillus haynesii, B. tequilensis and B. subtilis. They were found to produce volatiles that inhibited Xcp growth during in vitro antibiosis assay. GC-MS-based volatile profiling revealed the presence of several bioactive compounds with reported anti-microbial activities. These endophytes (CFU of 108/mL) were then spray-inoculated on leaves of 6-month-old pomegranate plants in the polyhouse. They were found to induce ROS scavenging enzymes such as catalase and peroxidase. This alteration was a manifestation of host tissue colonization by the endophytes as ROS scavenging is one of the mechanisms by which endophytes colonize the host plants.. Further, two-season field trials with endophytes for blight control resulted in reduction of disease index by 47 to 68% which was considerably higher than reduction due to the chemical immune modulator (2-Bromo-2-Nitro-1, 3-Propanediol)currently being recommended for blight control. In addition, these endophytes also exhibited reduced sensitivity to this immune modulator, thus, the current study advocates the use of B. haynesii, B. subtilis and B. tequilensis as biocontrol agents for bacterial blight of pomegranate either alone or as a part of integrated disease management.

    Keywords: Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic Bacillus spp., biological control, Bacterial blight, Biological Control Agents, inte- Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 N, Pokhare, Agarrwal, Singh, Sharma, Harsur and Marathe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dr. Manjunatha N, National Research Center on Pomegranate (ICAR), Solapur, India

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